translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
150310: Thomas Feuerstein – where deathless horses weep
Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman
Thomas Feuerstein – where deathless horses weep
07.02.10 – 10.04.10
In the molecular kitchen of a society geneticist
In his exhibition, Thomas Feuerstein cites a scientific experiment and constitutes a lab situation, in which talking about art creates molecular sculptures. The starting points of his new series are objects, paintings, graphics, large sculptures and a biochemical installation. In his works, Feuerstein postulates the text and illustrational translation of procedures and actions - the symbols or “daemonic” codes - that consciously or subconsciously determine our social or biological structures.
The conversation of the exhibition visitors triggers a biochemical process among the elements in the room: the works “velvet mourning” (a biochemical installation, based on Stanley Miller’s concept of the primordial soup, 1953) and “where deathless horses weep” (a bronze horse sculpture, on which humid air condensed and formed a layer of ice).
A further cross-linkage is created between the conceptual narrative of the exhibition and the works “genius in the bottle”; consisting of 72 bottle objects, email graphics on mirror glass, and the wall filling cartographical drawing of a map.
The link between the spoken words and the molecular bonds develops through the formula “drink, speak, distil”: the more humid air emerges from the mouths of the visitors by talking, the richer the condensate for the chemical synthesis becomes – and the more high-proof distillate develops from this, the more talkative the people get. “Speaking about art turns into material of art for elixirs in which bottle genies wait for their media as enzymes, catalysts and programs”, as an accompanying text informs. Art is created from amino acids, glucose, and ethanol – similar to the production of liquor. The preceding discourse on art in the exhibition room turns into a chemically sublime mixture of alcohol from a formerly highly toxic primordial soup - which becomes visible and drinkable by being filled into bottles.
The scientific question on primordial substance, regarding under which conditions different forms of life develop, is paraphrased by Feuerstein as an anthropological evolution, which, in analogy to the “primordial soup”, is based on a cultural soup. The biological conglomerated soups must be regarded as metaphorical figures, forming complex-abstract and even unknown daemonic organizing principles. Social political or economic control mechanisms develop, such as laws, surveillance, media, capital flows, etc. Today’s culture and experiences develop out of a permanently progressing neo-genesis, whereby the control mechanisms are just as implicit as the desire for freedom and independence. It is paradox that the cultivated Lebenswelt applies an attitude, which is hostile to nature, but at the same time concedes to being afraid of the ultimate loss of nature.
In this exhibition, Thomas Feuerstein’s central theme of questioning the relationship between an individual and society in a critical way, once again displays an “open” perspective of genesis as well as its potent geniuses, in other words: daemons.
By Romana Schuler
Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman
6020 Innsbruck, Maria-Theresien Strasse 34
Tel: + 43 1 512 57 57 85
Fax: + 43 1 512 57 57 85 13
email: galerie@galeriethoman.com
http://www.galeriethoman.com
Opening hours. Tue- Fri: 12 noon – 6 p.m. , Sat: 12 noon – 5 p.m.
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
150310
Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman
6020 Innsbruck, Maria-Theresien Straße 34
Tel: +43-1-512 -57 57 85, Fax: +43-1-512 -57 57 85 13
Email: galerie@galeriethoman.com
http://www.galeriethoman.com
Öffnungszeiten: Mi-Fr 12-14 h
Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman
6020 Innsbruck, Maria-Theresien Straße 34
Tel: +43-1-512 -57 57 85, Fax: +43-1-512 -57 57 85 13
Email: galerie@galeriethoman.com
http://www.galeriethoman.com
Öffnungszeiten: Mi-Fr 12-14 h